Tag Archives: Independent Redistricting Commission

The state redistricting commission today filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Attorney General Tom Horne’s investigation into whether the commission violated open meetings laws during the hiring of its mapping firm in June.

Members of Arizona's redistricting commission faced new allegations Thursday as the state attorney general said the panel's chair reportedly destroyed documents and Democrats filed a complaint asking for an investigation of a Republican commissioner.

The five volunteers tasked with redrawing Arizona’s political districts may soon have to tell the world who they’ve been talking with, outside the commission’s public meetings, about their highly-political work.

Attorney General Tom Horne is planning to file a special court action this week to compel cooperation from the three members of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission who have refused to submit to his investigation into whether the panel violated state procurement and open meetings laws when it hired a mapping firm in June.

In the high-stakes job to redraw Arizona’s political districts, much has been debated about the idea of “transparency.”

The Independent Redistricting Commission, apparently concerned about the public perception of its decision to hire a mapping firm with historic ties to Democratic causes, recently established a rule intended to allay fears of partisanship driving the mapping process.

But what about the commission itself? Shouldn’t its members be held to the same standard?

The state's redistricting commission is taking up the thorny issue of how to create districts in which both major parties can field congressional and legislative candidates with a realistic shot of winning elections, a key part of balancing sometimes conflicting redistricting criteria.

If Republican Attorney General Tom Horne would be willing to meet the Independent Redistricting Commission halfway, a Democrat on the panel said he would be prone to reconsidering his stance that he and his colleagues should resist cooperating with an investigation Horne launched last month.